Strange Islands Quiz

Not every island is a stereotypical sandy paradise with a tropical breeze. In fact, some of our world's most intriguing islands are anything but that. Abandoned cities. Haunted buildings. Mysterious relics. Are you a strange island expert? Show your stuff with this quiz.

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Question 1 of 20

True or False: Dubai has plans to develop a group of artificial islands in the shape of a world map.

true

The answer is true: This artificial-island development, called "The World," will include 300 islands grouped into the shape of a world map. However, the project is currently on hold because of Dubai's debt crisis.

false

Question 2 of 20

How many Uros people still live on the Floating Islands of Lake Titicaca in Peru?

500

30

1,200

Around 1,200 Uros people still live on the 60 man-made islands that float on Lake Titicaca. The 8-to-12-feet-thick islands are made of reeds.

Question 3 of 20

Which tree on Socotra Island is known for its red sap?

The giant succulent tree

The cucumber tree

The dragon's blood tree

The dragon's blood tree on Socotra island seeps red sap, and it's also known for its peculiar umbrella-shaped branches.

Question 4 of 20

Why did Don Julian hang thousands of dolls and doll parts from wire at his property, which has come to be called La Isla de las Munecas (The Island of the Dolls), in Mexico?

Don Julian hung the dolls to ward off the spirit of a woman who drowned in the surrounding canals.

Property owner Don Julian dredged dolls from the Xochimilco canals and hung them from wire to ward off the spirit of a woman who drowned nearby.

Don Julian hung the dolls to attract the Spirit of the Dolls.

Don Julian was an artist, and his doll installation was photographed and eventually exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Question 5 of 20

How many tourists visit the Floating Islands of Lake Titicaca in Peru each year?

100,000

200,000

Each year, about 200,000 tourists visit these islands, and the Uros people profit from that tourism.

20,000

Question 6 of 20

Which strange island has most recently served as the set for a game show?

Fort Boyard

France's Fort Boyard island has recently served as the set for a French game show called "Fort Boyard," which is similar to America's "Fear Factor."

Alcatraz Island

Hashima Island

Question 7 of 20

Which strange island is best described as an abandoned city?

Madagascar

Hashima Island

Hashima Island, off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan, was once the most densely populated place in the world. But after the mine on the island closed, the island city was completely abandoned.

Easter Island

Question 8 of 20

Which of these islands once served as an asylum for the mentally ill and as a place of quarantine for plague victims?

Alcatraz Island

Madagascar

Poveglia Island

Poveglia Island, off the coast of Venice, is widely believed to be haunted because of its grim past. It was the site for an insane asylum in the late 1800s, and a place of quarantine for plague sufferers in the 1300s and 1600s.

Question 9 of 20

What is the proper name for the massive statues on Easter Island?

ahu

maho

moai

The name for Easter Island's mysterious statues is "moai." "Ahu" is the word for the base on which the moai is placed.

Question 10 of 20

How did the Easter Islanders move the average 14-ton, 13-feet-tall maois from the rock quarry to other places on the island?

They used sleds to drag the statues.

They moved the statues with rolling logs.

Nobody is sure how the Easter Islanders were able to move the statues.

Nobody really knows exactly how the Easter Islanders were able to move such wieldy statues around the island. But both of these theories have been posed.

Question 11 of 20

Al Capone spent time on which of these islands?

Madagascar

Fort Boyard

Alcatraz Island

Mobster Al Capone was one of the many violent criminals to do time at the Alcatraz prison before it closed in 1963.

Question 12 of 20

The island of Madagascar broke off from which continent 165 million years ago?

South America

Africa

Madagascar was once part of the African continent.

Antarctica

Question 13 of 20

True or False: Ninety percent of Madagascar's flora and fauna is unique to the island.

true

This one is true: Amazingly, you won't find 90 percent of Madagascar's flora and fauna anywhere else on Earth.

false

Question 14 of 20

Which of these islands is nicknamed "The Galapagos of the East"?

Madagascar

Hashima Island

Socotra Island

Socotra Island, off the coast of Yemen and Somalia, is nicknamed "The Galapagos of the East" because of its unique ecosystem, which attracts ecotourists.

Question 15 of 20

What is Dubai's Palm Jumeirah artificial island made of?

sand and boulders

The island is made of boulders from a nearby mountain range and more than 120 million cubic yards (92 million cubic meters) of sand dredged from the sea floor.

gravel and recycled tires

cement beams and sand

Question 16 of 20

How did Alcatraz get its name?

Spanish explorers named the island for its rocky appearance; "alcatraz" is Spanish for "rocky."

The island was named for its seabirds; "alcatraces" is Spanish for pelicans.

In 1775, Lt. Juan Manuel de Ayala mapped the island and decided to call it "Isla de los Alcatraces," which translates to "Island of the Pelicans," because so many seabirds roosted there.

The island was named for the Spanish explorer who first discovered it: Lt. Juan Manuel Alcatraz.

Question 17 of 20

True or false: Chinese and South Korean men were forcibly brought to the island of Hashima to work at the coal mines.

true

This one is true: During World War II, as demand for coal increased, men from China and South Korea were forcibly moved to Hashima to work the mines.

false

Question 18 of 20

According to legend, why did one of the doctors at the asylum for the mentally ill on Poveglia Island leap from the bell tower?

He thought the island was haunted.

He actually was pushed from the tower by a patient.

He conducted strange experiments on patients, and this drove him to suicide.

Supposedly, he performed strange experiments on mental patients at the asylum, and that's why he committed suicide.

Question 19 of 20

How many people lived on Easter Island at its height?

20,000

500

9,000

About 9,000 people lived on Easter Island at its height in 1550.

Question 20 of 20

Was Fort Boyard ever really used as a fort?

Yes, it was used as a fort during WWII.

No, it was never really used as a fort.

Not really. Almost as soon as the fort was built, it was obsolete because of advancements in gun technology. But it has been used as a military prison.